Letter to the Editor: What's the stand?

Touching off a new wave of abortion in the United States Food and Drug Administration said Aug. 24 that people 18 and older may buy Plan B (the morning after) pills without a prescription from pharmacies.

Since the primary purposes of this pill is to cause an abortion shortly after conception has taken place, Catholic Bishops immediately responded saying "We need to call it exactly what it is - it is truly a culture of death."

Also, because the pills are a concentrated dose of the same drug found in many regular birth-control pills which have serious side affects, the Bishops declared that these pills will "endanger women's health" and "pray for our nation today and especially for women who are once again being told in this subtle yet drastic way that their value is based upon their willingness to be objects of sexual pleasure despite the cost".

However, here in Utah the reaction from religious leaders was much different. Because our email to Dale Bills (LDS Church spokesman) went unanswered, as we have often done we called the office of the LDS First Presidency directly and asked for the LDS official position on the Plan B pill.

Their secretary Brother Klofler told us that the LDS official position was "not against or for" the Plan B pill. This statement is consistent with the LDS position in The First Presidencies General Handbook of Instructions which says: "The church has not favored or opposed legislative proposals or public demonstrations concerning abortion," (Pg.156).

We found this statement ironic because a woman we know recently had her temple recommend removed after confessing she had drank a single cup of coffee to stay awake while driving. Yet if this same woman had a by-the-book legal abortion no action would be taken. Or if she had used the Plan B pill which is also possibly harmful to her and deadly to her child the LDS church would tell her we're not against or for it.

Did someone say something about swatting at gnats and swallowing camels?